Africa Groups' Recruitment Organisation

The Africa Groups' Recruitment Organisation (Afrikagruppernas Rekryteringsorganisation - ARO) was formed in 1978 to recruit volunteer to work as health care personnel, teachers and administrators in newly independent Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique. The Africa Groups of Sweden (AGS) already started in 1976 to recruit volunteers (or cooperants, as they were called at the time) mainly for Mozambique. These activities eventually became extensive, and in 1978 ARO was founded to take care of the volunteer activities and aid for Southern Africa. ARO sent most volunteers to Mozambique but also to Namibia, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Zimbabwe and to ANC's freedom college, SOMAFCO, in Tanzania, and SWAPO's refugee camp, Kwanza Sul, in Angola. Volunteers were mainly involved in health care and education. ARO was also engaged in emergency aid, mainly concerning health care in Mozambique. From 1982, ARO also dealt with support for different projects, financed mainly by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), a government aid agency, and ARO's own fundraising. When apartheid ended and Namibia became independent, ARO’s main task became to support the reconstruction of South Africa and Namibia. As a consequence, the activities of ARO and the Africa Groups of Sweden became similar, and the organizations merged in 1992 under the name the Africa Groups of Sweden (Afrikagrupperna). (Source: Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa

Organizational Archive

Title: Africa Groups' Recruitment OrganisationTime Span: 1978-1992, some material up to 1997Media: 74 volumes with an inventory list and 19 shelf meters of unarranged materialDescription: Records of the Africa Groups' Recruitment Organisation (Afrikagruppernas Rekryteringsorganisation) (ARO). The archives contain extensive correspondence, primarily with solidarity workers but also authorities in various aid countries. There is also material from seminars on solidarity work and minutes and accounts of the organizations' operations as well as material from various projects and campaigns along with courses and seminars. The ARO archives comprise in principle the years 1978 to 1992. Some archival series may have a starting year before 1978 and some may expand beyond 1992. This is due to the fact that some projects, even though they had their main activities some time between 1978 and 1992, could have started or ended before this period.Housed At: Archives and Library of the Swedish Labour Movement (ARAB) Location: Mailing: Box 1124, SE-111 81 Stockholm. Visiting address: Upplandsgatan 4, Stockholm., SwedenCatalog/Finding Aid:viewPhone: +46 8 4123900Related Website:http://www.arbarkiv.nu/english.htm